It can be hard for autistic people to get the health care we need. Some obstacles to getting care are not having insurance, having insurance that doesn’t cover what we need, or not being near health care providers. The Affordable Care Act (ACA) made it much easier for autistic people to get good insurance. It is important to protect the progress we made. There is still so much more to do to make sure that everyone who needs health care can get it. Efforts to make health care better need to focus on strengthening, improving, or going beyond the ACA.
Read more about health care, key laws, and our work on health care rights here.
Resources
COVID-19
- COVID-19 Case Tracker
- COVID-19 Plain Language Resources Plain Language
Toolkits
- Roadmap to Transition: A Handbook for Autistic Youth Transitioning to Adulthood Plain Language
- A Self Advocate’s Guide to Managed Long-Term Services and Supports Plain Language Easy Read
- A Self-Advocate’s Guide to Medicaid Plain Language Easy Read
- Affordable Care Act Toolkit for Self-Advocates Plain Language Easy Read
- Toolkit for Advocates on Ending Discrimination in Organ Transplantation
- Toolkit for Advocates on Health Care and the Transition to Adulthood
- Real Talk: Improving Quality of Sexual Health Care for Patients with Disabilities
Policy Briefs & Reports
- First-Hand Perspectives on Behavioral Interventions for Autistic People and People with other Developmental Disabilities
- The Affordable Care Act and the I/DD Community: An Overview of the Law and Advocacy Priorities Going Forward
- The Case for Designating People with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities as a Medically Underserved Population
- Policy Analysis for the revised Autism Criteria in the DSM-5.
- Organ Transplantation and People with I/DD: A Review of Research, Policy and Next Steps
- Our Lives, Our Health Care: Self Advocates Speaking Out
ASAN’s Response to the IACC RFI on Co-Occurring Conditions
These comments are available as a PDF here. IACC’s Co-occurring RFI (January / February 2024) We thank the IACC for the opportunity to comment. We would like to note that given the importance of these issues, it is unfortunate that the submission format for this RFI significantly limits respondents’ ability to provide thorough, meaningful comment….
New resource on Mpox
You may have heard of Mpox, a kind of viral illness that people sometimes call “monkeypox.” Since 2022, there have been more cases of Mpox. Self-advocates need to know the basics about this illness and how to protect ourselves. Our toolkit “What do I need to know about Mpox?” can help you learn more about…
ASAN Comments Re: Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act
Oct 17, 2023 Submitted via email Office of Health Plan Standards and Compliance Assistance, Employee Benefits Security Administration, Room N–5653, U.S. Department of Labor, 200 Constitution Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20210 Re: [Docket No. FR–51552] RIN 1210-AC11 Requirements Related to the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA); Request for Comment On behalf of…